. >> our economy used to be the fastest growing in the nation as a metropolitan area. now, we are in the bottom third. >> reporter: but the battle lines remain the same. while democrats blame republicans for not going along with their plans to raise higher tax revenues. >> since the new congress began, they have not put forward one proposal to prevent the across the board sequester. >> i try to put myself in the place of the regular citizen who sits here and watches this. they got to be scratching their heads. >> reporter: republicans insist deeper entitlement cuts are needed not more tax money. >> now, a time to get serious about reducing washington's out of control spending. >> reporter: virginia republican congressman randy forbes says the white house is to blame for the sequestration crisis because he says it create the budget cutting mechanism in the first place. >> the president signed it into law. he didn't have to sign it into law. he did. and for over a year from august 2011 through the end of last year, the president did nothing to stop it. >> reporter: for h